


A Strange Bet

by ilovelegendsalot



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Child Lloyd, Gen, Humor, Light Angst, Lloyd's always been clever, Pre Green ninja Lloyd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2019-06-28 21:13:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15715200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilovelegendsalot/pseuds/ilovelegendsalot
Summary: The ninja have always been weird, but now it's getting ridiculous.  They have a bet going on that's causing some issues.  Part of Lloyd wants to ignore it, but the other part is curious and sees the humor in the situation.  Why is nothing ever simple?





	A Strange Bet

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place during the span of time that passes in The Snake King.

These people were weird.

It wasn’t a bad weird, but still weird.

They even argued weird. They argued a lot, mostly over silly little things, but they usually didn’t seem angry, even when they were insulting each other. The exchanges came across as more playful than anything else.

Weird.

They were having one of those weird arguments now. Lloyd stealthily peeked over the top of his comic book to eye the ninja where they had gathered at the far end of the room. The words _green ninja_ , _destiny_ , and _samurai_ were being thrown around a lot.

The blond child let out an annoyed huff and rolled his eyes. This again? He ducked back behind his comic, snuggling further into the couch. It was hard not to get mad at them sometimes. They did realize they were basically arguing over who was going to kill his dad, right?

Probably not, no. He didn’t think they’d keep talking about it in front of him if they did.

In fact, their arguments over the title never seemed to really be about being the green ninja at all. They treated it more as a who’s the best ninja competition. They didn’t pay much attention to what the green ninja was supposed to do except the lead the others. How could they not be scared or stressed out at possibly being the one who would have to battle his super powerful dad for the fate of Ninjago? Just thinking about it made Lloyd nervous and that wasn’t even factoring in the his dad part.

Lloyd frowned a little as he stared at the page he was no longer reading. Which one would he want to be the green ninja? None of them really, but unfortunately that wasn’t an option. He’d have to hate whoever it ended up being obviously. He didn’t want to hate them, they were nicer to him than most people even if it was just because their sensei ordered them to.

Jay… he couldn’t see it being Jay. It wasn’t that he was less skilled than the others or anything, his personality just didn’t fit. He was too goofy.

Cole… maybe. He was one of the more mature ones. And he was more levelheaded than Kai and stronger than Zane, stronger than all the ninja. He was kinda laid back and he ate a lot, but those weren’t necessarily not chosen one qualities. 

Zane… hmm. Despite a lot of qualifications Zane seemed to possess, Lloyd was leaning towards no. Yeah, Zane was really smart and had seemingly prophetic dreams(although Lloyd wasn’t sure how he would know. They were all thinking about it so much he wouldn’t be surprised if they were all having green ninja dreams, but that didn’t mean they were all having otherworldly visions) and he was good at fighting and all that other ninja stuff. None of them were bad at the ninja stuff though. Zane just seemed so… innocent? Maybe naïve was a better word for it. Whatever it was, Zane just seemed too gentle to be the green ninja.

Kai… seemed possible. He was most eager of the bunch and he was the fighting type. His temper was a problem and he would probably be a bossy leader. All the ninja were bossy, but Kai was _really_ bossy. Maybe he’d grow out of it. By some small amount. And most evil leaders were bossy and had tempers so there must be something to it. The green ninja wasn’t evil though…

Yep, Kai and Cole were the most likely green ninja candidates to Lloyd. He could be totally wrong though, what did he know about any of it. Wasn’t like his opinion mattered anyway.

Suddenly, his comic was pulled from his hands and his train of thought to come to a screeching halt. “Hey,” he protested, glaring up at his oppressor as he tried to snatch it back, “Kai, give it back.” The others had disappeared, leaving just him and Kai in the room. They wouldn’t have helped him anyway.

“Have you finished your chores yet?” Kai asked, using his stupid tallness to hold the comic high above his head and out of Lloyd’s reach.

“I’ll do them later,” Lloyd said reasonably, using the couch as a stepping stool. Kai just moved his hand further back. Stupid jerk was smirking at him.

“Never put off for tomorrow what can be done today,” Kai chided.

Lloyd paused in his attempts to retrieve his stolen item to scowl at the older boy. “Who said anything about tomorrow? I’m just not gonna do them right this second.”

Kai rolled his eyes. “It’s not that literal. It just means don’t put things off.”

“You guys put off your chores all the time,” Lloyd shot back, irritated. Kai was being so unfair.

Kai had the decency to look somewhat embarrassed. For about three seconds. “Don’t make excuses.”

Lloyd weighed his options carefully. That was a special edition.

Kai let out a squawk and nearly fell over when Lloyd launched onto him. “Hey, you little brat! Get off me!” He tossed the comic book away and there was a short struggle that ended with Lloyd dangling by his ankles which were being firmly gripped in Kai’s hands. The hood of Lloyd’s black hoodie half fell over his hair and he spread his hands out on the floor to steady himself and also because he didn’t trust Kai not to drop him. He did his best to glare mutinously up at the teen, but his rather absurd position made it difficult. Still pulled it off pretty well.

The spiky haired ninja looked torn between anger and amusement. Lloyd didn’t know why. _He_ wasn’t the one upside down.

“What the hell, Lloyd?! You can’t just attack people like that.”

Lloyd huffed. “I wasn’t attacking you. I’m merely trying to recover what’s mine.” Wow, everything looked so funny upside down. It was like the floor swapped with the ceiling. He hadn’t done this in a while.

He felt more than saw Kai shake his head. “In what world is throwing yourself onto someone _not_ attacking?” The sound of a long, drawn-out breath came from above him and Kai tilted his head a little as he peered down at the child. “Come on, Lloyd, it’s not that bad. You just have to do a few chores and then you can have it back.”

Lloyd’s eyes dipped towards the ground. “Is this what you keep me around for? Slave labor?” he grumbled. That and to keep their eyes on him.

“You know that’s not true,” Kai sighed. “Look, I know chores suck, but it’s not that much and it’s something we all have to do. Everyone pitches in around here and that means you too.”

There was no getting out of this, was there? “Fine,” he groused, “I’ll do the stupid chores. Now let me go.”

Kai released his ankles and Lloyd took a few steps on his hands before flipping upright. A wave of dizziness hit him as the blood rushed back to his head, but it passed quickly.

Fixing his hoodie, he turned back to threaten (tell) Kai to be very careful with his comic and that he expected it back the second his chores were done, but the look on Kai’s face stopped him. Utter shock was the only way to describe it. It was a hilarious expression and he wished he had a camera on him, but he didn’t understand it.

Lloyd’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. It wasn’t like he hadn’t put up a fight and even then it wasn’t _that_ shocking that he’d agreed to do his chores. They forced him to do them all the time.

“Where’d you learn to do that?!” Kai half-choked. That still didn’t give any indication as to why Kai was looking at him like he’d grown a second head.

“Do what?” Lloyd asked genuinely curious because he had no idea what Kai was going on about. Not a clue. 

“That little gymnastics display you just pulled off,” Kai said, as if it were obvious. _That_? Geez, overreact much?

Lloyd shrugged. “I didn’t learn it anywhere. I just figured it out.”

“Lloyd, you’re one of the clumsiest kids I’ve ever met,” Kai said dryly, the shock slowly draining from his face. 

“I’m not clumsy,” Lloyd defended huffily. He wasn’t.

Kai shook his head in disbelief. “Yeah, you really are.” Then the fire ninja gave him a small smile that Lloyd really didn’t understand. Why was Kai being so weird today? “Looks like you’ve got some ninja moves of your own. Maybe some of our ninjaness is rubbing off on you.”

Now he was just being ridiculous. Lloyd rolled his eyes. “How is being able to walk on your hands a few steps a ninja move? In what situation would that ever be useful?” You wouldn’t be able to hold anything, you would be more vulnerable, it was just stupid.

“I don’t know,” Kai said, walking over to where the comic had landed and picking it up. He couldn’t even comprehend how lucky it was that he hadn’t bent it. “There probably is one, but I was referring more to your balance. And that flip wasn’t shabby either.”

Pushing Kai’s weirdness from his mind, he decided to ask a question both to satisfy his curiosity and to buy him some more time before he had to do his chores. “You guys were talking about the samurai, right? Have you figured out who it is yet?”

Instantly, Kai looked pissed. That was a no then. 

“No,” the teen confirmed through gritted teeth. “The guy’s sneaky. And he cheats. Don’t worry though, next time we meet I’ll get him for sure.”

Lloyd really wasn’t worried. He didn’t even know why the ninja cared besides that they were jealous about being shown up.

And why did they all assume the samurai was a he? They’d never even heard it talk (which was weird because if he was the one showing up the ninja you could bet that he would be bragging about it). Happened in comic book all the time. The macho group of men assuming the secret super warrior is a he only to find out it’s a she who’s been besting them and they get super embarrassed. A classic plot twist.

“Does finding out who it is really matter?” Lloyd questioned. “So long as it’s helping.”

Kai clearly didn’t agree judging by the annoyed look he flashed at him. “Yes, Lloyd, it matters.” The annoyance gave away to excitement almost immediately though. “Plus, we have a bet that whoever’s skilled enough to catch him and reveal his identity is the green ninja.” Then Kai paused as he seemed to catch himself too late, realizing he might have given away a little too much. “But don’t tell sensei,” he added hastily.

Lloyd quirked an eyebrow. He was positive that that wasn’t how that worked. He imagined it would involve a lot more epicness and glowing mystical powers and explosions of some sort, not some silly bet.

“Really?” Lloyd said, letting the sarcasm flow freely. Then more seriously. “So I guess that means you want to be the one to catch the samurai?” No wonder they hadn’t caught this person yet. They all must be trying to catch the samurai by themselves and were probably getting in each other’s way. Maybe even on purposefully sabotaging each other. They were honestly almost as bad as skeletons sometimes. But again, Lloyd didn’t care so he wasn’t going to say anything.

“Oh, I’m gonna catch him alright,” Kai said with complete confidence, his eyes shining with excitement. “I’m clearly destined to be the green ninja.” Lloyd didn’t even try to hold back his amused snort.

Kai gave him an irritated glare. “What?”

Lloyd snickered. “I just think you’d look funny in green.” He really would. Red suited Kai, but _green_? A fashion disaster. He’d look so weird.

Kai looked scandalized. “I would look _amazing_ in green!” 

Someone was deep in denial.

“Think whatever you want to think,” Lloyd said with a shrug. While Kai sputtered in indignation, Lloyd pondered another question he’d been wanting to ask, but had never gotten a good opportunity to bring up. Since they were already on the topic, he might as well ask now. “If you’re going to become the green ninja, who’s going to be the fire ninja?”

His thoughtful tone must have convinced Kai that he was sincere because his annoyance faded away. “I will,” Kai explained, sounding so sure of himself. “I’ll be both. Double the awesome.”

Lloyd was skeptical. 

That didn’t seem right. Not only because it didn’t sound right, but it wasn’t what the prophecy seemed to say either. 

He’d read it, of course, how could he not? It was about his dad and his kinda friends. It had been surprisingly easy to get his hands on. All he’d had to do was sneak into his uncle’s room while they were training and he’d only had to search for a few minutes before he found it. It hadn’t even been locked up or anything. As he’d held the ancient piece of parchment in his hands a feeling of dread and hatred had welled up inside him that had almost made him turn back. As if reading it would somehow make it real and if he just left now maybe it wouldn’t be true. But he had to know exactly what it said. To see if there was any clue to which one of the people he was living with would be the one to battle his father. To see if the word ‘kill’ was ever used.

It wasn’t, but killing was heavily implied. Just thinking about it made Lloyd sick.

The words of the prophecy weren’t what led him to question Kai’s answer. It was the pictures. Some people might laugh that off and say that they weren’t important and couldn’t be used as a source of information, but lots of ancient people used pictures for stories. If the picture wasn’t important, why bother taking the time to make it?

The way the image was laid out there were four ninja, one blue, one white, one black, and one red, around a ninja in green. If the green ninja had been above the others with some sort of mystical essence rising upwards, than he would understand why Kai thought he could be both. But that wasn’t the case and what Lloyd saw was five ninja. The chosen one and four protectors. His years of fanatic comic book reading had made him an expert in art interpretation. 

There were only four ninja though.

So either one of them was going to ascend and get a replacement for their element, or there was another ninja somewhere who they hadn’t met yet. The second one made more sense than the first, but the first seemed righter somehow. Because it had to be the one of the four of them, right? His uncle wouldn’t have lied to them about that.

But it seemed so unbalanced not having all four elements and the picture clearly showed five ninja. Ugh, it was all so complicated, and he just wanted to know who the green ninja was already so he could brace himself properly. Get it over with.

He was almost jealous of Kai, who didn’t appear to have any of the inner turmoil Lloyd was experiencing. No, Kai just stood there giving him a funny look as if _he_ were the weird one. 

The fire ninja opened his mouth to say something more, but Lloyd would never know what it was. Cole interrupted by popping out from around the corner. “Kai, what’s taking you so long?” he asked, glancing between the two of them.

“I’m coming,” Kai called over his shoulder. He turned back to Lloyd. “Do your chores,” he very unnecessarily reminded him. And with that he ran off to join the other ninja.

Lloyd sighed, picking at the green five on his hoodie sullenly. He could put them off a little longer, but he’d just get in trouble and never get his comic back.

And he wasn’t ungrateful to them for letting him stay.

\---

This was getting ridiculous.

Actually, they’d crossed that line long ago and he was seriously questioning the ninja’s mental stability. 

Because standing down the hall was Jay in a frilly pink dress and a long blond wig. For a few seconds, Lloyd could only stare because _what the heck_?

Then a huge grin broke out across the child’s face and he just barely contained his squeal.

He needed a camera. 

He must have broken all his speed records as he made a mad dash for his camera. It took less than a minute for him to run quietly to their shared bedroom, grab his camera, then race to the control room.

Lloyd crept up to the window overlooking the deck, still grinning wildly. From this vantage point he’d be able to snap a perfect photo. 

And he’d made it just in time because no sooner had he got into position did Jay emerged from below deck. Where had he even gotten a dress like that? In Jay’s heartbeat of hesitation as he glanced around warily, Lloyd took the photo with a soft click. Jay was gone seconds later, but it didn’t matter because he got it. Pure joy was coursing through his body. This might be the greatest day of his life. 

Lloyd stared gleefully down at the screen, reveling in his prize. He was going to get this printed ASAP so he could add it to his collection. This was undoubtedly going to be the new jewel of the set. Despite not having been with the ninja all that long he’d been able to amass quite an impressive stack of embarrassing photos. They made it easy.

Once he was sure Jay was gone, he slipped outside and aimed his camera towards the treetops surrounding their parking space. Leaning over the railing, he spotted a cute, little, dark blue bird. He waited for a moment for the bird to get into a pose he liked then pressed down on the button. He was a professional and as such knew the importance of having an alibi for carrying around a camera. 

Future blackmail and alibi obtained, he was free to wonder _why_ Jay was dressed up like a girl. It probably had to do with the samurai catching contest in some strange, twisted way. Lloyd shook his head a little, looking out in the direction Jay had disappeared. This whole thing was really getting out of control if Jay thought wearing a _dress_ was somehow going to make him the green ninja.

The desire to witness the horrendous train wreck this would become was extremely tempting. Especially since it was Nya’s turn to watch him and she was surprisingly terrible at it. She kept disappearing, not that Lloyd was complaining. He didn’t need a babysitter. He was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, they were just his prison guards.

Lloyd’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. Now that he thought about it Nya _always_ disappeared, every single time. Did she think he was super annoying? That was why the others ditched him. But she put up with Jay’s antics and she’d always seemed the most accepting of him from the start. If she was going off to work on something, she almost always let him help. Maybe she was working on a super-secret project.

And it wasn’t like she was disappearing into the next room or down the hall. It was a Lloyd could accidently set the oven on fire(which hadn’t been his fault. Someone * _cough_ * Cole * _cough_ * had left a bunch of junk in the bottom of the oven and Lloyd couldn’t be blamed for that.) and she never showed up kind of disappeared. Wu had been out… tea shopping or whatever it was he did, but the smoke had been pretty bad. Bad enough that you’d literally have to not be on or near the Bounty to not smell it. At the time, he hadn’t questioned her about it because he’d gotten away with it and he wasn’t crazy, but now he was suspicious. Very suspicious.

His eyes darted one last time to the path Jay had taken, but he knew it was pointless. The lunatic was too far ahead of him, he’d never be able to track him down. And he knew Nya was still here so he could get in huge trouble if he tried following now. Disappointment weighed down on him. It was such a shame, he was sure it was going to be a glorious sight to behold.

Investigating Nya however was much safer, and he was curious. He doubted it would be Jay in a dress good, but at least it would give him something to do with his afternoon. 

Nya hadn’t left yet. As he was heading down the stairs, she came through the door on the deck that Jay had from a minute earlier. Judging by the fact that she didn’t look shocked or disturbed in any way, Jay had just dodged a bullet.

She met him at the bottom step, which Lloyd remained standing on in an attempt to even out the height difference. She was still taller.

“There you are,” Nya greeted, flicking her eyes down towards the camera still clutched in his hands. “What are you doing with that?” There was nothing accusing in her tone. It was kinda weird.

This was why one must always be prepared. “Birdwatching,” he lied, turning the camera towards her so she could see the bird photo that had clearly just been taken in this area. Some people were lazy and reused the same photo over and over again like people wouldn’t notice that the picture didn’t match with where they were. Noobs.

She totally bought it. “I didn’t know you liked birds,” Nya said pleasantly. It wasn’t a response he’d been expecting and it threw him off a little. He nodded shyly.

That wasn’t a lie, he did like birds. He just liked ninja in dresses better. There were some things in this life that you just couldn’t put a price on.

“Well I’ve got something else you’ll like,” Nya said, holding out on object Lloyd hadn’t realized she’d been holding.  
Lloyd’s eyes bulged out of his head when he saw what she was handing him. “Fists of Fury Four!” he breathed, practically yanking it out of her hands in his eagerness. “I didn’t even know this was out yet!” If it had been anyone else he would have called it as a prank, but this was Nya.

Nya smiled at Lloyd’s enthusiasm. “Came out yesterday. I got it while I was out getting groceries.”

Lloyd’s head was buzzing with excitement. The game had all fifty characters, next generation graphics, new awesome moves, mechanics, and bosses, and it expanded on the previous story. If Lloyd had had a better upbringing, he would have thanked her for this amazing gift. But he hadn’t been that fortunate and despite all their efforts, learning takes time and old habits die hard. His life at Darkley’s had left his social skills woefully undeveloped. He shot past Nya without another word, making a beeline for the game room. 

He was moving so fast that inserting the disc, scooping up the controller, and flopping onto the couch was almost one movement. As the title screen began playing, his excitement continued to build until he felt like he would burst if he didn’t start playing right now.

It took him no time at all to get engrossed in the gameplay. The weirdness of what had just happened didn’t even cross his mind until he was three levels in.

He’d been beasting through the level, his enemies falling at his feet, when he came across a blond girl in a pink dress that instantly reminded him of Jay’s… disguise? 

His fingers froze on the controller. He didn’t even care when his character died because something fishy was going on. Nya had just given him a brand new, just released videogame for absolutely no reason completely out of the blue. He hadn’t even done his chores yet.

Something was going on here. But what?

Slowly, he placed the controller down, turning to eye the game case critically. It suddenly didn’t seem quite so innocent as it had before. Was it a bribe? A way to earn herself a favor? Had she actually gotten it for the ninja, but had given it to him first in an attempt to get on his good side?

Was she still here?

“Nya!” he called, testing the waters.

No answer.

This merited an investigation. Shutting off the game fully, Lloyd bounced off the couch to begin his search. 

He zipped through the Bounty, checking each room for any sign of the missing girl. Nothing. Completely empty. No ninja, no Wu, no Nya. 

She’d played him for a fool. Using videogames as a distraction so she could make her covert getaway. A simple, yet effective plan. Oh Nya was devious. He was thoroughly impressed.

This was so exciting! It was a mystery and he was the brilliant, witty detective, hot on the case. 

Since his search hadn’t turned out anything, he was left with two choices. A: Wait until Nya returned then confront her and maybe get some answers. B: Search the only room he hadn’t checked yet, Nya’s room.

He went with the funner option obviously.

The door to Nya’s room was down the hall from the bedroom he shared with the ninja. Nya got her own room because she was a girl. Wu got his own room because he was old. And the rest of them were all crammed into a single bedroom. It was so unfair.

Lloyd’s stomach squirmed nervously as he stood before the door that separated him from the answers he sought. He’d been in every other room in the Bounty at some point or another except this one. This was unexplored territory. A new frontier. 

His anxiety wasn’t because he had any qualms about snooping. He possessed an inquisitive mind that needed to be satiated. It was just… well, he’d never been in a girl’s room before. 

Having gone to an all boy’s boarding for basically his whole life had left him ignorant of the opposite sex. Not that he had never saw girls walking around or hadn’t had female teachers, but it was different from actually knowing a girl and understanding their ways. Sometimes the school would meet up with their sister school, Darkley’s Boarding School for Bad Girls, but he still had emotional trauma from those dark times and that was with him avoiding them like the plague. Most girls weren’t like that though. Nya was the first girl he’d ever had any sort of anything with.

Lloyd scrunched up his nose, lightly chewing on his bottom lip as he stared at the door, deep in thought. From what the other boys at Darkley’s told him, who had moms, sisters, and female friends and therefore knew what they were talking about, girls were weird. What if girl’s rooms were weird too? What if it was filled with gross girly things? He wasn’t sure what kind of stuff that might be, but it unsettled him all the same. 

He had no idea what lay behind that door.

Only way to know was to see for himself.

Lloyd reached out and twisted the doorknob. Locked.

He gave a slight shrug and pulled his VIP membership card from Doomsday Comix out of his pocket. This ship wasn’t exactly Kryptarium Prison. It was old and even after the renovation, the locks were simple. 

Sliding the card into the slit by the doorknob, he wiggled it around a bit until he felt the lock start to slide. He bent the card, forcing the lock back with a click. Too easy. A mischievous grin spread on his face as he slipped quietly into the room.

On the surface it looked totally normal. It was actually kind of a letdown. There was some makeup on the dresser and it was more organized than the ninja’s bedroom, but other than that it looked normal. No boy band or unicorn posters. No sparkles or obscene amounts of pink. A lot of red and blue, but very little pink. He hadn’t honestly been expecting any of those things from Nya, but he thought there’d be something. She must have some sort of air freshener in here too because it smelled good. Maybe the springtime scent? 

Lloyd scanned the room again. Nothing popped out to him right away and there weren’t a ton of hiding places. It was always harder when one wasn’t sure what one was looking for. Maybe she had a diary he could read. Lots of girls had those, right?

He walked over to the wardrobe, it being the most obvious hiding place and it was best to get it out of the way first. The doors didn’t creak as he opened them, which was always a nice surprise. Creaking doors were the bane of snoopers everywhere. Her bedroom door hadn’t made any noise either, so it would make sneaking out of here a lot easier. He really, really didn’t want Nya to come back and catch him in here. She would most definitely not be happy, especially after she’d just given him a gift.

There was a strange twinge in his stomach at the thought and Lloyd’s mouth twisted into a frown of confusion. Was that… guilt? No way, he’d never felt guilty about sneaking around before. Never.

The feeling was still there though.

He didn’t like it.

Doing his best to shake it off, he refocused on the wardrobe’s contents. Clothes, a few dresses, jackets… those boxes in the back might have something interesting. 

He took a moment to memorize everything’s positions, then leaned in to open the boxes.

Weapons? Lloyd stared quizzically down, running his hand over the smooth sides of the blade. The shurikens were abnormally large and they seemed familiar though he couldn’t place it.

He knew Nya could fight, he’d seen her run the training courses while the others were out battling the serpentine, but he hadn’t realized she took it so seriously. He’d always assumed she did the courses for fun, that it was just a hobby. She never went out with the others after all. Where had she even gotten these weapons? They weren’t from the armory. 

Lloyd turned the shuriken around in his hand, studying it carefully for clues. His eyes zeroed in on a symbol near the handle. He moved it closer to his face so he could get a better look. It was some kind of warrior helmet with two swords behind it forming an X. All the weapons had it.

Lloyd blinked.

This was one of Samurai X’s weapons! That’s why it seemed so familiar! He’d seen glimpses of it on TV and heard descriptions of it from the ninja.

There was only one logical explanation as to why Nya would have a closet full of Samurai X’s things.

The laughter came bubbling out of him and there was no stopping it. It rang throughout the room, breaking the silence and brightening the room. He put the weapon down and doubled over in laughter, his whole body shaking and a few tears leaking from his eyes because this was just too good! _Nya_ was Samurai X!

The ninja were running around making fools of themselves trying to catch _Nya_. How did she manage to keep a straight face in front of them? They were all trying- wait. This meant Nya _was_ going to see Jay in the dress. 

He collapsed to the floor in a fit of gleeful giggles. It was getting a little hard to breath, but he didn’t care. “Oh, this is amazing!” he said to no one.

After another solid minute of laughing, he finally managed to catch his breath and push himself off the floor. He wiped away a few stray tears, processing what this all meant.

It all made sense. How the Samurai was always one step ahead of the ninja. Why Nya kept disappearing. Why she trained. Where the mech came from. Nya was smart enough to make such a machine. She often helped Jay with his inventions. What was a little puzzling was why the secrecy. She had a sweet mech. All she had do to was show that baby off and they would of let her join the team no problem. Maybe she thought her brother wouldn’t allow it and this was her proving she could do it. Except she’d proven herself a long time ago so maybe she was just getting a kick out of watching them scramble, whine, and fail miserably at catching her. He let out another giggle. 

Well one thing was for sure, if she wasn’t going to tell them, neither was he. Now that he knew, it was going to be three times as funny to watch all the drama because now he was in on it. So many opportunities for puns and teasing that only he would understand. This was going to be incredible! 

Now that he had what he came for, he quickly repacked everything exactly the way it had been before. No reason to linger in here and risk getting caught. He could go back and keep playing Fists of Fury 4. It was what Nya was expecting anyway.

Lloyd didn’t immediately start playing when he got back to the game room though. He was still mulling things over.

It suddenly struck him like a blow to the head that, counting Nya, there were five ninja now. Could she be the green ninja? It would keep everything balanced and she did have skills. He could kind of see it. Great, now he had another thing to worry about. The possibility dampened his mood considerably.

Well, whatever the case, he’d proved how stupid their bet was. Because he’d found out the Samurai’s identity first, that meant he won the bet.

And it wasn’t like he was going to be the green ninja.

**Author's Note:**

> It occurred to me one day that Lloyd would probably notice that Nya was disappearing and this fic was born from that realization. I also wanted to get into Lloyd's thoughts on the green ninja pre-knowing it was him since they never really go into it in the show. I'm trying to improve my writing so constructive feedback is appreciated. I hope you enjoyed my fic!\\(^o^)/


End file.
